


Turn It Inside Out

by aroberuka



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Child Abuse, Character Development, Friendship, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Male-Female Friendship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Run-On Sentences, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 18:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16000931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroberuka/pseuds/aroberuka
Summary: One last hesitation, one last chance to go back to his car and forget the whole thing ever happened. But he couldn’t bring himself to seriously consider the possibility now, not when he’d gone through all that trouble already.Or: the one where Steve meets a strange girl in the woods and has the most stressful week of his life.





	Turn It Inside Out

It was still pouring by the time Steve climbed out of Nancy’s window (just as stealthily as he’d climbed in, thank you very much), but no amount of puppy eye would have convinced her to let him wait it out any longer, and despite all evidence to the contrary he _did_ have a sense of when to stop pushing his luck.

He dropped to the ground and took off towards Dearborn and Maple, where he’d left his car earlier; he kinda regretted it now, ‘cause by the time he slid into the driver’s seat he was completely drenched. He turned on the ignition to get the heater going and for a moment he just sat there, soaking in the heat, head still swimming with Nancy’s dark blue eyes and a lot more chem facts than he’d anticipated. And wasn’t it funny—that thing with Nancy. Even now, cold and wet and with way more actual studying done than he’d ever planned to, he couldn’t bring himself to regret blowing off Tommy and Carol for her, or the trouble he’d be in if his parents got home before him.

Maybe it should have worried him, that he was falling so fast, that he was falling at all, really, after so many years (alright, two and a half, but who the hell cared about middle school anymore) of carefully cultivated detachment; instead he felt like he was walking on fucking air just from the twist of her smile. Like he was twelve again and working the nerve to ask Jenny Miller to the Snow Ball, because Jenny Miller was pretty but he’d also wanted her to _like_ him, and that made everything so much harder somehow.

Steve shook himself off with a bemused huff and pulled away from the curb.

The drive from Nancy’s house to the wide wooded streets of Loch Nora was a short one. Steve was almost home, a little distracted, a little tired, and not seeing shit past the yellow beam of his own headlights, and, yeah, okay, maybe he _wasn’t_ paying as much attention to the road as he should have been, but it wasn’t like anyone would be going around at night in the rain so who the fuck cared, and anyway the point was _he was almost home_ when a small, white shape ran out of the woods and onto the road, right in front of his car, and _froze_. Steve had just enough time to think _oh shit oh fuck oh no_ and then he hit the brakes, even though he could tell right away it was _too fucking late_ , but what the _fuck_ else was he supposed to do, and then—

And then Steve felt something ram into the side of the car and _push_ , _hard_ , except he couldn’t _see_ anything there. The wheel was wrenched from his hands, spinning like crazy; the car veered sharply to the left, completely out of his control now, lurched off the road and came to a sudden, unnatural halt just short of wrapping around a goddamn tree.

And then everything went _still_ , which was _fine_ , ‘cause Steve couldn’t have moved to save his life. Couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop staring at that fucking tree, so damn close he could count the grooves in the bark, could imagine all too well what it would feel like smashing against his _face_ —

Steve scrambled for the door and staggered out, hands on his knees, breathing hard.

The rain still hadn’t let up. It ran down his face, his nose and the collar of his shirt in heavy rivulets, and in no time flat his clothes were stuck to his body, cold and uncomfortably heavy, but at least it was something tangible, at least it gave him something to focus on besides his own frantic heartbeat—

A branch snapped somewhere in the woods and Steve almost jumped out of his skin, suddenly all too aware a kid had gone missing in those very woods just the night before, and of course it wasn’t really anything for him to worry about, it was just the Byers kid, everybody knew the whole family was screwed up in all kinda ways; it had nothing to do with him, now, never mind that he was alone out there, that the rushing of the rain drowned out every other sound, that between the dark and the downpour he couldn’t really see past the tip of his own nose.

Yeah. Nothing at all.

( _But—_ )

But _nothing_. He needed to get a grip and get the hell out of there before he got in worse trouble than he already was.

But what he’d seen—that small skinny frame caught in the headlights, scared stiff—

It had been a deer. It _had_ to have been a deer.

( _It wasn’t a deer._ )

He _wanted_ it to have been a deer. If it had been a deer then he could just go home. Have a beer or two or ten, drink himself silly until his hands stopped shaking and let his father yell at him for being out so late, for almost wrecking the car, for—

If it had been a deer he didn’t have to think about it anymore, didn’t have to wonder about whatever had pushed him off the road, didn’t have to think about missing kids and things lurking in the woods. He’d been surprised, he’d lost control of the car. Case fucking closed.

( _You didn’t see a deer though._ )

No. No, he hadn’t. But what he’d seen—

“ _Fuck_!”

Steve stepped away from his car. He could at least take a quick look. It didn’t have to mean anything. Probably wouldn’t matter anyway. Whatever, _whoever_ he’d seen would be long gone by this point. Had to be.

The wheels had left short, deep grooves into the soil. Steve made his way back to the road and squinted at the darkness.

There was nothing there.

But: another loud _snap_ , deep into the woods.

And then, much closer: something rustling through the undergrowth, across the road from him.

“Hey,” he called out, dimly surprised by how steady his voice was, given that he felt _anything but_. “Hey, are you alright, do you need help?”

No answer. But the rustling stopped, and now that he was closer he could feel it—someone’s attention on him, a sensation he was all too familiar with from all the times parents, teachers, and, occasionally, Carol had stared at him with that mix of bafflement and exasperation that meant he was about to get himself into massive trouble.

One last hesitation, one last chance to go back to his car and forget the whole thing ever happened. But he couldn’t bring himself to seriously consider the possibility now, not when he’d gone through all that trouble already.

A few more steps, and he was across the road. Steve looked around, wishing he had a flashlight, wishing he’d thought to turn the car around, wishing for anything more useful than a lighter in the goddamn rain—a shadow shifted, barely visible at the edge of his vision—he turned around, stopped short, looked down.

Into the eyes of a girl with a shaved head and blood running down her nose.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is my first attempt at writing a multichapter in a long, long time, and I am thrilled and also terrified. But this idea has been in my head for a while, I have a lot of plans for it, and I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do :D
> 
> I'm kinda hoping I'll be able to maintain a more or less regular update schedule, but we'll see how it goes. Feedback definitely helps keep me motivated, so please do let me know what you think so far!


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